Becky is just brilliant! Queen of Beijing pool must settle for bronze but wins our hearts

Glorious bronze? For a former Olympic champion, is there such a thing?

Let’s get a little perspective. When an athlete has qualified for the final in last place, when she has the worst lane draw, when it is not her best event anyway and her previous success came slightly unexpectedly from left field four years ago, well then, yes, maybe this was a third place of which Rebecca Adlington could be proud.

Brutal realism is not a stance widely associated with host nations at Olympic events. UK Sport said they would be happy with 48 medals at London 2012; one newspaper readjusted that target to a slightly more optimistic 84. It is very easy to get carried away when most of the country has programmed wild-eyed euphoria as its default position.

Bronze medallist Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain waves to the crowd after receiving the medal won in the Women's 400m Freestyle final

So, while a hardy band of brutal realists have been warning that Adlington’s hopes of retaining her crown at the 400 metre distance were by no means guaranteed, their reservations were largely ignored; or dismissed as negativity.

Yet, had we been a little more honest about Adlington’s capabilities at this level and the challenge she faced from Camille Muffat of France, who clocked the fastest time in the world this year at her national championships in March, Sunday night’s bronze medal might not have been seen as such an anti-climax in some quarters.

Not in London’s Aquatic Centre, obviously. Here, Adlington is still very much Great Britain’s golden girl and is treated accordingly. She got a bigger cheer for bronze than Muffat did for gold and an Olympic record time, and the noise over the last 100m as it became clear Adlington had a chance of a podium finish was as close as a swimming crowd can get to deafening.

Even more than those with the close-up view at home, they will have appreciated Adlington’s triumph against the odds. She had won her qualifying heat at what was mistakenly felt to be a reasonable lick only to scrape into the final in eighth place, once seven other swimmers had sped past her time.

All smiles: Adlington celebrates her bronze medal finish in the 400m freestyle final

You beauty! Adlington is congratulated after her medal-winning performance

By the afternoon, a sense of fatalism surrounded her reappearance. There was no sign of the girl who swam the second-fastest time in the world in qualifying for this event at the British trials. ‘Just sneaked into tonight’s final,’ Adlington told her fans. ‘Not expecting anything tonight. All I can do is my best.’

It was hardly an inspirational address. Sit back and watch me lose it, seemed to be the message. And she did: but not without one hell of a fight.

Only in the arena did proper perspective on Adlington’s race occur. There, spectators had a bird’s eye view of the way fate conspired against her, condemned to swim in the slow half of the draw. Almost alone, with the nearest competitors lagging in her wake, it was quite remarkable that she kept pace — not just with the leaders in the middle spike, but with a much faster group on the opposite side, led by world record holder Federica Pellegrini of Italy.

It was Pellegrini who fell short of expectations to allow Adlington to swim to glory in Beijing’s Water Cube four years ago, and she was similarly frustrated in fifth place here. She did, however, duel with her neighbours Lotte Friis and Coralie Balmy throughout the race. Adlington, by contrast, was stranded. The nearest lanes finished a distant seventh and eighth; the rhythm she achieved for her bronze finish was as good as a solo effort.

Bronze age: Adlignton was delighted to land a medal after just scraping into final

FRANCE EDGE OUT US IN THRILLER

France overhauled the United States at the death to claim the 4x100 metres freestyle relay title in London.

The United States had led from the start and appeared to be on course for gold but Yannick Agnel inched ahead of Ryan Lochte in the final 10 metres to claim the title in three minutes 09.83 seconds.

It meant Michael Phelps won his first medal of the 2012 Olympics and his 17th overall but it was the French who were celebrating as they exorcised the memory of 2008 when they lost out on the touch to the Americans.

There is a reason the draw is so important to horse fanciers at the race track. In a sprint the field often splits into halves on each rail and the fastest finishers tend to come from one group or another.

Adlington bucked that trend in the pool. Saddled with the slower group, she somehow kept up. Gold was never a possibility, Muffat and Allison Schmitt of the United States had struck out from the start, but at the halfway stage Adlington was in the mix below and on the final leg she was powering at the head of the chasing pack.

It was a bronze, but a comfortable bronze, and one that contains promise for her favourite event, the 800m, on Friday. At one stage there was talk of the distance being dropped from the Olympic competition for women; after this, what a mistake that would have seemed with one of the host nation’s heroes denied her best race. Expectation around Adlington will be at fever pitch by the end of the week, knowing it is her last chance of home glory.

Expectations for Team GB? They may be tempered after the first two days. Mark Cavendish was considered a certainty in some quarters, Nicole Cooke and Rebecca Adlington not far behind. The reality has been rather different. Cycling’s road race can be a devilishly random event, as it proved, with Cavendish 29th, Cooke nowhere and Lizzie Armitstead fiercely competitive to take silver.

Head first: Adlington swum a magnificent final 50metres in lane eight to land the bronze medal

Now Adlington has to settle for bronze. On Monday, another household name, Tom Daley, will dive with partner Peter Waterfield from the 10metre platform. He is one more poster boy for the London Games who has his work cut out living up to expectations. The presumption is that Daley will triumph; a cursory glance at the rest of the field suggests high quality. A medal of any hue would be a fine achievement.

So it was for Adlington. Home advantage only counts for so much; noise, fervour, patriotism and romantic illusion also. Adlington’s finish should be placed in the context of where she started: not in the pool at the London Olympics, but from the backwaters of lane eight.